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A Warning: Colleges Can Change Their Minds

A word of warning to those high school seniors celebrating the end of the whole college admissions process: Not so fast.

Yes, the choice is made, and the deposit is paid. But there’s one more hurdle — namely, finishing senior year with grades that bear some resemblance to the ones that won the admissions offer.

Somewhere in all those college letters, after the “congratulations’’ part, is a sentence to the effect that admission is conditional upon the student completing high school with the same academic and personal achievement on which the offer is based.

And they mean it. Each year, colleges rescind offers to students whose grades plummeted after they were admitted. Generally, one stray “C’’ won’t have serious repercussions. But make it a couple of “D’s on a transcript that had been crammed with A’ s and B’s and there may be trouble.

“It’s felt to me like there’s an increasing number of students whose grades go down the tubes senior year, and I want them to know that we do look at their end-of-year transcripts, and we rescind admissions decisions,’’ said Robert Clagett, the dean of admissions at Middlebury College. “Every year that I’ve been here, we’ve rescinded a few decisions in July, and frankly, we’ve seen the problems on the upswing.’’

The University of Washington revokes about two dozen offers a year after reviewing final transcripts, a number that has stayed fairly steady, according to Philip Ballinger, the director of admissions.

“We see it as a matter of fairness to students who were not admitted or wait-listed,” Mr. Ballinger said. “Students know it can happen, and counselors tell us thank you, thank you.”

At Connecticut College, Martha Merrill, the dean of admission, said her office sent out 13 warning letters — they have two variants, which she calls “big oops’’ and “ little oops’’ — last summer, compared to 9 the previous year.

Bad grades are not the only possible pitfall. Some students lose their admissions offers because of plagiarizing, cheating, drunken misbehavior, or arrest.

“Last year, we rescinded an early decision offer after a student was kicked out of boarding school,’’ Ms. Merrill said. “It’s especially painful for the early-decision candidate, because they have no other options, and it’s often too late to apply anywhere else.’’

At Northwestern, Christopher Watson, the dean of undergraduate admissions, said one or two offers are revoked each year.

“You would have to have a severe drop-off in your academic performance that would make us pause as to whether you could do the work to be successful here,” he said. “We would engage the family and the school before we make the decision, because it’s heartbreaking when you have to do it.’’

Far more common than revocation, everywhere, is a warning letter, expressing disappointment, and asking for some explanation.

“In my seven years here, I can only think of two cases when we rescinded,’’ said Paul Mathers, the dean of admission at Reed College. “But every year, when grades drop, or there is some misbehavior, we send out warnings, what we think of as a ’’Come-to-Jesus’’ letter, because we want them to be aware that we considered rescinding their offer of admissions, and we want to know if they are going to be serious students here. What we’ve found, generally, is that those students don’t end up flunking out or on academic probation.’’

Bowdoin College has several different classes of warning letters, according to Scott Meiklejohn, the dean of admissions.

“It’s a spectrum,’’ he said. “Students who have a slight decline get a letter noting our disappointment that their grades are different from the grades on which they were admitted. For students who’ve had a larger decline, we ask them to write back with their comments and explanation. For the more serious, we tell them we’re going to review the case and decide if we are still offering admission, and in the most serious, we sometimes revoke the offer.’’

Admissions directors say they want students to understand the possible consequences of plummeting grades — but they do not want students who have always had all A’s to torture themselves with worry that getting a B will doom their college career.

“It seems to me that the students who worry most about senioritis are, ironically, the students who can afford to let up a little to enjoy their many accomplishments and hard work,’’ said Seth Allen, the dean of admission at Grinnell College.

Given the massive number of individuals we’re talking about, and the relative propensity of young adults to make poor decisions, it is not surprising that some make such terrible choices that their college future is jeopardized. However, for most people, this is simply not a genuine concern. Particularly at this stage, where the events that are likely to undo them are probably criminal (and alcohol-related), there are larger issues, namely personal safety and accountability, that should influence seniors’ behavior.

In this economy, students need to realize that it is not just college but life at stake. The same is true for undergraduates who are hoping to “get into graduate school” to “redeem” themselves, as one student recently told me. Poor grades as an undergraduate will bar you from getting into graduate school. Period.

I think rescinding offers is just what we need–and a lot more often. Most high school students today could never have survived in college classes a generation or two ago. They just don’t have the discipline or the foundations of education.

Years ago, the friend of a friend was devastated when Harvard rescinded an admission offer. The senior’s school actually contacted Harvard, because the student had skipped many days of school after being offered early admission.

I got one of those letters (decades ago now, yikes). I had a lukewarm excuse (5 AP classes, what was I thinking?) and UR put me on academic probation my first semester. I stayed (mostly) out of trouble and graduated with a double major, enough credits for a minor and a low B average. In retrospect, the school’s response was a good one and it did me some good.

It’s not hard to keep a B in high school. You can still party! If you drop from A’s to D’s I guarantee you will be dropped from an Ivey League school. They get enough posers and fakers and can’t weed them all out. If you shout from the rooftops that you don’t really care about grades unless you get something out of it (a prestigious admission) then you are definitely not the right candidate for a serious school.

Many years ago I was an admissions officer at a private college when the dean of admissions asked for input about an accepted student whose high school performance had faltered. Years later I was reminded of the event when I met the same former student who happened to be attending law school with me. When we first met at law school, I told him that his name was familiar to me, but I could not recall exactly why. As we reviewed where our “paths may have crossed,” he made the “connection.” After he learned that I had once worked as an admissions officer at his college, he reminded me, “Remember when they told you that if you did not keep up your grades, they could rescind your offer? I was one of those. The college made me delay a semester to ‘get my act together’ and I entered school in January, rather than September.” He ultimately was graduated from college with honors and performed well at law school.

As a professor who has to deal with legions of unprepared students every year, this is good news. If only standards were a big more stringent. But I see another way that colleges are going to change their minds: when yields go down because more students are switching to nearby schools or to less-expensive public colleges and universities, some of these waitlisted students for the elite public and private schools will soon be getting fat envelopes, at a rate slightly higher than in past years.

Regarding #3 (“Most high school students today could never have survived in college classes a generation or two ago.”), the flip side of that is that in today’s brutally competitive environment most of us from those generations could not get admitted to the same colleges we attended then.

As an MIT interviewer, I routinely see applicants who make my high school grades and accomplishments look like I coasted through — and almost all of them get reject letters. Even formerly “safe” schools are demanding much more high school accomplishment. I used to joke that the entrance test for SUNY New Paltz applicants was being able to fog a mirror with one’s breath. Not any more.

In response to JB (comment no. 1): the small number of students to whom this actually happens doesn’t drop this from being a “real concern,” given the magnitude of the consequences–and given the purpose of policies and articles like this, to remind all the seniors that they still have work to do.

I had to deal with this many years ago. Having gotten in early at an Ivy League school, I ended senior year with transcript littered with C’s and D’s. My solution was simply not to send a final transcript. When the college realized that they didn’t have it, the high school had closed for the summer, and I told them they’d just have to wait until the next year. At the beginning of the academic year, I delayed again. By the time the college got a transcript, I was already nearing the end of the first semester, too late for anybody to revoke an admission. (Though there may have been an academic probation involved, I don’t recall).

It’s likeIy I worried too much. I suspect that very, very few offers are revoked for C’s and D’s. I’d imagine that the real issue is with kids who fail classes and so don’t actually graduate from high school on time.

The college admissions officers who engage in this practice are bullies. It would be reasonable to put the student on academic probation in their first semester, but actually rescinding an admission for a bad case of “senioritis” is devastating to the student and their parents. Only in cases of significant moral turpitude should admissions be rescinded.

The “come to Jesus” letter is just plain bullying and the last chance of the admissions departments to wield their near-dictatorial power over the applicants. After being forced for 3 1/2 years to jump through hoops by college admissions requirements, isn’t it reasonable to think that adolescents might want to let their hair down a bit? And again, as adolescents, some might overdo it. But they will be busting their butts soon enough when freshman year begins, and as your article mentions, the students with bad senior grades normally do fine once they get to college.

Though I was never in this position, I can’t help but wonder if an early admission might encourage a student to take a particularly difficult course, and/or courses outside his “comfort zone,’ on the assumption that with his college admission no longer tentative, he didn’t have to fret about his GPA. If school is supposed to involve stretching the intellect both in terms of breadth and depth, the all-important GPA is a hindrance.

I majored in literature, English and theatre, disciplines that I loved (although I know many hard-science types would question the aptness of the term “discipline”!). However, I’ve often thought of going back for a B.S. in one of the “hard” sciences, such as physics or chemistry, in which I had little background or natural skill. My earning a C average as a chemistry major would have represented far more applied effort and actual learning, even for a mediocre return on investment, than straight As in my favourite subjects, which I had pursued on my own to a degree that I had trouble finding courses in which I had not already done all the reading.

I’m glad to see that the colleges that send warning letters give the students a chance to explain.

In response to comment #3: I had terrible grades as an undergraduate–I actually failed a class in my major!–and I still got into several great grad programs. It certainly was embarrassing to explain to the various grad committees that I was a very lazy undergraduate, but my GPA didn’t “bar” me from getting into grad school at all.

What helped was that I took three years in between undergrad and grad school, and I worked at a national laboratory doing real research. This work is a lot harder to do than the canned science labs that make up the “research” experience of most undergrads applying to grad school directly out of college. Grad schools know this, and thus my real word experience trumped my crappy undergrad academic record.

Sure, I was immature and lazy as a 19-year-old, but I am a very focused and hard working 29-year-old now. I have managed to obtain enough grants that I support my own research completely, and I’ve been publishing peer-reviewed journal papers on the work. Thank goodness graduate schools didn’t judge me based on my behavior as a teenager, as Kim suggest they should have!

I was a serious enough student that I never even considered slacking off after I got accepted to my first choice school early decision. To me, the acceptance meant no more worry or waiting, not an excuse to skimp on work.

I’d like to know, though, if Connectecut College even reviewed why the student mentioned as having their offer rescinded was actually kicked out of boarding school? Or did they just accept on its face that any student kicked out of boarding school was so for a “good” reason that the college would agree with, without even looking at the situation?

I was an admission dean over 20 years ago at one of the colleges mentioned in the article, and I remember that one year we revoked the acceptance of a kid who had been arrested with his father for robbing a jewelry store. I also recall some minimal discussion (innocent until proven guilty?) but that dilemma was solved because he couldn’t be a full-time student and be in trial at the same time.

Another college mentioned in the article did not revoke the acceptance of a young man in our town who had been arrested and placed on probation for exploding a “bomb”–he actually blew up his AP Physics project with enough force to leave a crater in the ground. That was a good decision — he was a good kid who didn’t think things through, like most 18-year-olds.

Finally, to the teachers who complain about students who stop working their last semester senior year, I say give ’em a break. Most of these kids — especially the ones who have gotten into presitigious schools — have worked really hard for four years. Not saying they should stop working completely, but I think it’s OK for them to slack off a bit and actually enjoy some of their high school career.

The students dropped by their college choices will survive. This too will pass.

What happened to the old headmaster’s talk along these lines: “Name, I have summoned you here today to give you the greatest opportunity of your short life. I am expelling you from our school, and you know why, so there will be no discussion on that point. I am giving you a rarely granted opportunity to think things through, decide what really matters to you, and take the right action. Please think fondly of our school in your future, a future you have the power to make productive, moral and successful. You have my sincerest wishes that you do the right thing. Good bye, and good luck.”

American high school education is mostly a joke. Who cares if one more semester is squandered before the college education, which is not any more serious except for a tiny number of students at a tiny number of colleges.

Perhaps instead of penalizing students for “senioritis,” we should recognize this problem for what it is (terminal burnout after too many AP courses crammed into the Junior and first half of Senior year) and find a creative solution. Wouldn’t it be great if we could channel this energy into something more productive, something which would renew their spirits and energy, allow them to enter college with less stress, and really prepare them for the adult world? I would propose that any high school senior accepted into a college or university be allowed to “substitute” some or all of his/her second semester senior year courses for community service work. This would have to be appropriately monitored, of course, so that it was really meaningful and there would have to be pre-defined requirements. Imagine if 50% of graduating seniors spent half of their second semester tutoring elementary school kids from inner city schools, cleaning up polluted wetlands, driving senior citizens to doctors visits, raising awareness about international genocide, etc? Maybe we would have a world with a few more altruists and a few less Bernie Madoffs.

I would like to point out that the high school years are prime time for the onset of psychiatric disorders like depression, bi-polar, and the like. Disorders that are treatable. Before schools assume that kids are slackers, they should find out if there is a medical problem. Not only because it is the “right” thing to do, but because the kids who have such disorders are covered by the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Failure to abide by the law by giving such kids “reasonable accommodation” is considered a violation of students’ civil rights (yes, civil rights) and is a Federal offense. Schools and teachers that make across-the-board assumptions are not only discriminating against those with mental illness but inviting lawsuits.

This is indeed a serious issue for some seniors who received those thick envelops with the acceptances. Do not take the statements from the admissions offices lightly. It is so close to realizing a dream and your hard work accomplished to turn the burner down now. You can get burned.